June 05, 2009

The Welfare State in Contemporary Britain

In lieu of the present developments in
Britain’s society, there have been significant visions regarding the state of
welfare that evolved. A majority of these learning visions are based on the idea
that welfare is a social process where knowledge is denied instead of being
acquired passively. Welfare, then, transforms into an interactive process. The
interaction is being verified through the help of the participants in the
process of improving the overall state of welfare such as the British government
and the citizens themselves. In this framework, high quality of welfare would
mean the continued guidance and support of the active improvement process of
every social welfare service. Obviously, this would call for an intensive and
phased guiding strategy (2003).

When in the active pursuit of the improvement
of the welfare state of Britain, interaction with the citizens forms an integral
part towards its success. Collaborative learning as a method of interaction is
gradually being used nowadays. Through this approach, the British government can
learn from their citizens through the acknowledgement of their social welfare
needs in the socialization processes. In the process, the British government is
able to obtain the chance to see their own ideas in a different aspect and
therefore be able to take alternatives into consideration. The relative
effectiveness of this approach is determined with the capability of the British
government to continuously challenge its pre-acquired knowledge regarding social
welfare by trying to adapt to the interpretations of their citizens.

The Labor Movement and Social Welfare

The labor movement in Britain has achieved a significant popularity
status for their active involvement regarding social issues. Going back in
history, the labor movement became existent in fighting for
social welfare needs during the 1990s. And together with this existence was also
the start of the booming number of social welfare programs being provided by the
British government in response to their continued clamor.

More often than not, labor movement didn't really make an immediate impact on the current social welfare
state of Britain. Instead, they engaged in activities that gradually propelled
them towards the high level of popularity and involvement where they stand now.
These activities included the numerous appearances in street demonstrations
aiming for the improvement of the social welfare needs of the British citizens.

However, the role that the labor movement
played was not limited to street demonstrations. Activities such as educating
the British public and other social responsibilities were often related with the
labor movement. A great deal of emphasis lied on the efficiency and
effectiveness of those roles. Therefore, the labor movement wanted the British
government to understand the welfare status of their nation by looking into the
welfare needs of their citizens, both immediate and long-term.

Are the welfare states in rich
western countries essentially the same?

Rich western countries like the US have social
welfare delivery systems that implement the policies and tasks necessary to
satisfy the social welfare needs of their citizens, employees, and government
officials effectively and efficiently. These social welfare delivery systems
focus on the careful management of the processes involved in the implementation
and distribution of social welfare services. So in a sense, the welfare state of
rich western countries has a slight difference as compared to Britain’s welfare
state.

More often than not, the governments of rich
western countries don't really have the capabilities to directly deliver the
social welfare needs to all the constituents involved. This is the reason why
privatization is often mentioned as a solution to this problem. Instead, these
systems engage in activities that various schools of management typically
associate with social welfare delivery. These activities include the
establishment of social welfare programs.

However, an effective welfare state deals with
all operations. Activities such as the management of social welfare services,
the control of resources, logistics and evaluations are often related with an
excellent state of welfare ( 2003). A great deal of emphasis lies on the
efficiency and effectiveness of the processes involved. Therefore, rich western
countries like the US include the analysis and management of internal processes
in order to improve the status of their welfare.

Neo-liberalism and Social Policy

Neo-liberalism pertains to a
political-economic school of thought that doest not allow government
intervention in the domestic economy, while supporting free trade and
welfare and social policy
reform ( 2002).In
mentioning this, the recent efforts of scholars to educate the public regarding
neo-liberalism would definitely make learning easy for every individual who
desires to do so. Also, the growing impact of neo-liberalism fits in with the
larger transformation towards a knowledge-based social policy-making. Most
policy-makers are already adapted to the ideas of neo-liberalism. Nowadays,
policy-makers are more and more using neo-liberalism based ideas in order to
formulate social policies.

Social policies can be influenced by
neo-liberalism through the interaction of two major factors. On the one hand,
the instructional factors: the educational philosophy brought about by
neo-liberalism and its conversion into didactical ideas. On the other hand,
organizational factors: the staff, infrastructure and policies related in this
area. It is obvious that the policy-makers must possess a sound vision of
neo-liberalism ideas and the efficient use of the available resources in order
to effectively formulate social policies.

Nevertheless, these policy-makers need an
interaction between both factors. This is because in order to respond to the new
visions of neo-liberalism, they will eventually transform into a model together
with the various aspects of the social environment. In return, the general
public will have to continuously monitor their limitations and along the process
introduce innovations.